Distance-indicator for railway-cars



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S. LIGI-ITBURNE, Jr. DISTANCE INDICATOR FOB. RAILWAY CARS.

No. 898,249. Patented Nov. 20, 1888..

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No. 393,249. PatentedNov. 20, 1888.

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NITED STATES PATENT rrrcn.

DISTANCE-INDICATOR FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

IPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,249, dated November20, 1888.

Application filed May 20, 1887. Serial No. 238.381. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STAFFORD LIGHTBURNE, Jr., of the city of St. Louis,in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Distance-Indicators for Railway-Cars, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure I is a front View of my improved indicator. Fig. II is atop view with part of the casing broken away. Fig. III is an elevationwith the front of the casing and one of the push-plates removed. Fig. IVis an end View. Fig. V is a vertical transverse section taken on line VV, Fig. III.

My invention relates to indicators for railway-cars; and my inventionconsists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and pointedout in the claims.

The object of my invention is to provide a box or receptacle in which toplace tickets or cards indicating the destination of a passenger,together with the place from where he starts, there being a box locatedat each seat of the ear with two compartments, one for each passenger.When a passenger delivers his ticket to the conductor, it is placed inthis receptacle or box, thus indicating the place where the passengerboarded the train and his destination, so that the conductor can alwayshave before him the destination of the passenger, and can readily tellwhether the passenger has gone farther than the station to which he haspaid his fare, and in case the conductor should be acting in conjunctionwith a passenger to defraud the company a detective can always tell (itbeing designed that there should be an order of the company requiringthe ticket to be placed in the box with the destination of the passengerindicated thereon, as shown in Fig. 1) whether or not the passenger isbeing carried beyond his station.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the back plate, 2 the front plate, 3 and41- the side plates, 5 the top plate, and 6 the bottom plate, forming acasing. The bottom is hinged to one of the sides at These differentplates are secured to each other by lugs and rods 8}, and thus form aboxwith the back plate, 1, extending up above the others, on which theremay be cast or printed any desired descriptive matter. The front plate,2, has openings 2%, the use of which will be described hereinafter. Thefree end of the bottom plate has an extension, 7, in which there is aslot, 7;. This slot passes over an extension, 8, of the side plate, 4-,this extension Shavinga hole through it in which may be secured a lock,9, by which the bottom may be locked when it is closed. The box isdivided in the center by a partition, 10, one part being a duplicate ofthe other.

Secured to the back of the box by plates 11 are springs 12;, which arebent so that their upper ends extend toward the front of the box, and onwhich are secured connectingpieces 12, against which bear push-plates13, these plates preferably having at top a flange or portion, 14. Thetop plate, 5, does not extend quite to the frontplate, 2, butleavessmall openings or slots 155.cxtending into the interior of the box.Secured to the inside of the top plate, 5, preferably by a fixed plate,15, are movable plates 16, which come against the front plate, 2, andare held there by means of springs 17 closing the slots 15%, the movableplates 16 having extensions or projections 18 that extend into theinterior of the box back of and beneath the plates 13.

The operation of the device is as follows: Supposing a passenger boardsa train at St. Louis,goingtoSpringfield,Missouri. Hewonld hand theconductor such a ticket as is shown on the right-hand side of Fig. I; orifhe pays a cash fare the conductor receiving the fare would fill outsuch ablank as is shown on the left-hand side of Fig. I, and theconductor would then place his ticket or card into the box by pressingagainst one of the plates 13, forcing it back into the position shown bydotted lines in Fig. V. As he forces the plate 13 back, it comes againstthe extension of the plate 16, forcing the latter back to open the slot15}. This allows the ticket to be inserted through the slot, and thenthe conductor removes the pressure from the plate and the springs forceit forward, holding the card or ticket against the front of the box onthe inside, the ticket being exposed by the opening in the front of thebox. As the plate 13 springs forward, the plate 16 is forced forward bythe spring 17 closing the slot, so that the ticket cannot be removedupwardly. When this passenger reaches his destination and gets off thetrain, the ticket of another passenger entering and taking the seatwould be placed in the box in the same manner, the box being capable ofholding a number of such tickets, as shown in Fig. V. As already stated,each seat would have one of these boxes or receptacles, or each box orreceptacle would have two compartments, so as to hold the tickets fortwo passengers; or, of course, there could be a separate box for eachpassenger instead of a double box for the two. \Vhen the train reachesits destination, these cards or tickets are removed by an authorizedperson by taking off the lock 9 and allowing the bottom to swing down,so that the cards or tickets can be taken out downwardly.

Each opening in the front of the box or casing is provided with acrossbar, 25, to prevent the removal of the tickets through the openmg.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with a box having an openfront, and a slot near one edge of the box near the front, of a plateadapted to be forced in to allow the tickets which are inserted throughthe slot to pass in front of it, substantially as shown and described.

2. Inadistance-indicatorforrailway-cars, the combination ofacasingprovided with an openingat frontthrough which the ticket may beobserved, a spring-plate located within the casing forholdingtheticketagainst the front ofthe casing, a slotin the top of the casing,through which the ticket may be i nserted, and a sliding springplate forclosing the slot, the latter springplate being adapted to be pressedaway from said slot by pressing the former spring-plate to permitinsertion of the ticket, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a distance-indicator for railway-cars, the combination of thecasing provided with an opening in its face, a spring-plate locatedbehind the opening for holding the ticket against the face of thecasing, a slot through which the ticket is inserted, a plate for closingthe slot, a spring located behind the slot-plate, and an extensionontheslot-plate againstwhich the spring plate impinges, substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination of the casing provided with an open front, aspring-plate for holding the tickets against the front, a sliding platemounted transversely of the casing, for closing a slot at top, a springengaging the sliding plate for closing the slot, and a downwardextension of the sliding plate, against which the top of thefirst-mentioned spring-plate is adapted to engage, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

5. In adistance-indicator for railway-cars, the combination of thecasing having a slot through which the ticket is passed, a plate closingsaid slot, a spring located behind the plate, an extension on saidplate, a push-plate located within the casing, crossed springs providedwith connecting plates located behind the push-plate, for holding thelatter against the front of the box, whereby an even pressure is broughtto bear on the push-plate,and a hinged bottom, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

STAFFORD LIGHTBURNE, J R.

In presence of G120. H. KNIGHT, J os. WAHLn.

